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Notes and Queries.

I.

THE EDWARDES SQUARE SETTLEMENT.

In "The Leisure Hour" for July 1896 is the following interesting notice of this little-known Huguenot quarter of London." In the best part of the western suburbs of the metropolis, not far from Kensington Palace, and close to Holland House, there is a curious relic of olden times called Edwardes Square." Busy traffic and throngs of people pass by the entrance to this quiet and secluded place, which is known to comparatively few. A short, narrow street is all that divides it from the great highway that leads to Hammersmith and Putney. Going down the little street exactly opposite Holland Park, on the southern side of the Hammersmith Road, we suddenly see an open square, with a vast enclosure of garden and lawn, larger than Lincoln's Inn Fields. The houses on three sides of the quadrangle are very small. The northern boundary is formed by the backs of the loftier houses of Earle's Terrace, facing Holland Park. The origin of Edwardes Square carries us back to the date of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when the expulsion of the Protestants brought so many Frenchmen to our country, and caused Huguenot settlements in all parts of the kingdom. In most of the localities the refugees were workers who transferred their skilled labour and brought wealth to the land of their adoption. It was not so in the Kensington settlement. Here it was intended to prepare a French Arcadia for families who did not seek their livelihood by manual labour or as skilled artificers, but who only required safety and peace. So Edwardes Square, with its thrifty lodgings and healthy grounds, was built and named after the Kensington family. The Huguenot refugees and their descendants have passed away, and the houses are occupied by those who enjoy the quiet grounds and the economic homes prepared for the proscribed Huguenots. But the end is near. The lease of this Edwardes estate is nearly expired, and the site of the property will in another generation be covered with larger

and more valuable buildings. The Huguenot episode will all be forgotten. Even Leigh Hunt, in his "Old Court Suburb," abounding in memorials of Kensington, did not know the origin of Edwardes Square. He repeats the legend that it was built in anticipation of the conquest of England by Napoleon, "when Frenchmen could find a cheap and rural Palais Royal in an English royal suburb!"-(Communicated by S. W. Kershaw, F.S,A.)

II.

HUGUENOTS IN THE CANARY ISLANDS.

The History of the Canary Islands by George Glas, London, 1764, 4to., contains some references to the presence of Huguenots in the Island in the early part of the eighteenth century, though without giving any detailed account of the settlement or the names of the refugees composing it. Alluding to the Inquisition, Glas says:-"Those Protestants in Tenerife who are most exposed to its censure are the French Huguenots, for they have none to protect them from it. The French Consuls here have always been men of narrow minds, who neither kept up the dignity of their office, nor regarded the glory of their nation; otherwise they would have protected their countrymen from the insults of the clergy, even though they had professed paganism." He relates the following stories as evidence of the intolerance of the Inquisition:-"A master of a French ship lying in the road of Orotava, was standing near the port, conversing with some merchants, when the Host passed close by them; all the merchants, on perceiving it, kneeled down in token of respect and reverence, as is customary in that part of the world; but the Frenchman, being a Huguenot, stood upright with his head covered, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the merchants to make him kneel and take off his hat. Next day, the merchants to whom the captain was consigned, were sent for by the officers of the Inquisition, and examined concerning the affair. They cleared themselves, but could not dissuade them from arresting the captain, although his ship was almost ready to sail. Luckily for the Frenchman, the merchants in a body, with some discreet clergymen, went to the Inquisition, and made its officers sensible that the taking any notice of what had happened would answer no purpose but that of frightening the Dutch, English and Hamburghers from coming to the island, which would totally destroy their commerce."

Glas proceeds to relate how "A French Huguenot of mean circumstances, who kept a shop in Tenerife, happening to be at Lancerota upon business, was importuned by a beggar for alms, having a figure of the Virgin in his hands, bedecked with flowers (which is customary there on certain festivals), which he made use of to enforce his visit. The Frenchman, vexed at his importunity, said, "Begone, what signifies your Virgin to me? Indeed, if you would beg for the sake of some pretty girl, you might have better success." With these words he turned away, not dreaming of any bad consequences. The beggar went off, muttering and vowing revenge against the heretical dog, as he called him. The poor Frenchman had reason to repent of his ill-timed gallantry, for he was soon after seized by the officers of the Inquisition, and confined in prison, until they found an opportunity of a bark going to Canaria. Before he was sent thither, he wrote a letter to one of his countrymen at Tenerife, informing him of his misfortune, and that he had been racking his thoughts ever since to find. out the cause, but could charge himself with no offence against the Inquisition, excepting the affair of the beggar; adding, that being conscious of his innocence, he hoped soon to get clear; but in this he was mistaken, for he was confined atCanaria for more than a year. It was observed, that when he returned from thence to Tenerife, he looked fat and fair, but ever after attended mass, and otherwise behaved himself like a good Catholic, which it seems he had not done before.'

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In the Noticias de la Historia General de las Islas Canarias, (Lib. XII, § xiii, xiv), by the Rev. Don José de Viera y Clavijo, published at Madrid in 1776, in 3 vols. 4to., and, with an additional volume, at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in 1858-63, is an account of the "Invasion of Gomera by the Huguenots," of which the following is a translation:-" Since the middle of 1570 several French pirates had been cruising about this island and that of Palma, being sent by the Huguenots of La Rochelle in order to intercept our commerce with America. One of these was Jacques de Soria1 a Norman bravo, a subaltern of Admiral Coligny (the latter a man of great talent, an enemy of Philip II., of the religion of France, and of the Spanish possessions), who came at the head of five ships. Having, when in sight of Gomera, captured the Portuguese ship Santiago, which had just left the harbour of Tazacorte, he put to a cruel death the forty Jesuits who, under the leader

1 He was the first of the French pirates who went with the traitor Diego Perez to America and sacked Margarita and sundry ports of Venezuela in 1535.

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